Araim Pharmaceuticals announces a strategic partnership with Vault Bioventures to support development and commercialization of ARA 290 as well as other peptides within a novel family

TARRYTOWN, N.Y., Dec. 31, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Araim Pharmaceuticals has formed a long-term strategic partnership with Vault Bioventures to facilitate the advancement to market of its novel peptide library which targets devastating injuries and chronic diseases underserved by current therapies. This new strategic collaboration is expected to leverage the expertise of Araim Pharmaceuticals in scientific discovery and research with Vault Bioventures' proven capability in clinical and regulatory development and commercialization in order to speed time-to-market, lower regulatory risk, and maximize commercial impact.

This collaboration is triggered by the transition of Araim Pharmaceuticals into the clinical stage of drug development following positive proof-of-concept studies in two distinct patient populations in two leading indications. The foundation for this collaboration is the innovative scientific platform of Araim, which has shown significant positive findings in a wide array of disease modelsincluding in peripheral nerves (neuropathy), retinopathy, nephropathy, the central nervous system (neurodegeneration), cardiovascular injury, wound healing, and aging. This partnership is designed to enable the next phase of Araim's growth by providing the expertise and experience in bringing first-in-class treatments to patients with limited options. The team at Vault Bioventures will contribute to the executive management of Araim overseeing clinical and regulatory development, as well as business development licensing activities and commercial development. Joe Young, the CEO of Vault Bioventures, will serve as Chief Business Officer and Head of Corporate Development while Daiva Bajorunas, M.D., will serve as Chief Medical Officer. Collectively, they and the team at Vault Bioventures have extensive experience engineering numerous successful products in chronic diseases, including within the cardio-metabolic space, complications of diabetes, and pain.

"Today's announced collaboration with Vault Bioventures is an important step in our journey to bring our innovation forward to impact the lives of millions of patients, which is our primary goal," said Tony Cerami, Chairman of the Board for Araim Pharmaceuticals. "The Vault team has an impressive record of accomplishment in advancing innovative therapies to their full potential, both in their prior roles in executive leadership within biopharmaceutical companies and with companies like Araim. I'm excited about our strategic partnership and believe it provides Araim with a necessary and powerful infrastructure to achieve our goals."

"The leadership of Araim has an impressive track record of ground-breaking scientific research and discovery which has positively affected large populations in some of the most devastating diseases," said Joe Young, CEO of Vault Bioventures and newly appointed Chief Business Officer for Araim Pharmaceuticals. "Araim has positioned itself well for the next phase of growth with the discovery of the innate repair receptor, demonstration of the potential broad application through a wide array of disease models, and successfully crossing the bridge to proof-of-concept in two different patient populations with ARA 290. Our collective goal is to focus our efforts on moving the near-to-market indications forward while continuing to explore the breadth of opportunity the platform represents."

"We were looking for a solution to the dilemma nearly every early stage company faces," said Annie Dunne, Chief Operating Officer for Araim Pharmaceuticals. "How do we build towards our goal of reaching the patient when our core capability is scientific discovery and research? "What was attractive for us in this partnership is the proven track-record of Vault Bioventures to provide integrated capabilities across clinical, regulatory, and commercial development, as well as licensing. This provides Araim with the capability and flexibility to develop and commercialize our platform ourselves or to establish further partnerships if it accelerates progress towards our goal."

About Araim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Araim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a clinical stage drug development company with a novel platform technology designed to address devastating injuries and chronic diseases underserved by current therapies. With their discovery of the Innate Repair Receptor (IRR), Araim has identified the target for activating tissue repair and recovery from inflammatory and other injuries. Their lead compound, ARA 290, a novel 11 amino acid peptide, stimulates tissue protective, reparative and anti-inflammatory signaling pathways through selective IRR activation. Araim has an ongoing, active and promising preclinical program in a wide array of conditions involving tissue injury and repair, including neuropathy, cardiovascular injury, diabetes complications, wound healing and aging. ARA 290 has received US and EU orphan drug and US Fast Track designations for the treatment of painful small fiber neuropathy in sarcoidosis, and is currently in Phase 2 peripheral neuropathy clinical trials. www.araimpharma.com

About Vault Bioventures, Inc.

Vault Bioventures is a strategic services firm that works with large global pharmaceutical companies, early to mid-stage biopharmaceuticals, and investors to enhance value creation and capture through integrated clinical development, commercialization, and business development licensing activities.